Sirack Hughes

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Sirack Hughes, Tillingham, Essex.

Mr S.Hughes had the joint calling in 1855 of brewer, beer retailer and carpenter. Hawkins, Henry, Shingleford Farm. The farmhouse dates from around 1500, but the first known brewing on site was in 1875 when Henry and Hannah Hawkins purchased the farm of some 70 acres. Henry died in 1909.

For a fee of four shillings paid at the local post office, Henry had licences to brew, not being a brewer for sale, in 1893 and 1897. Brewing ceased in the early 1920s.

In 1882, Kelly's Directory lists Henry Hawkins as at "Shinglefoots". John Rayner Hawkins, the son of Henry, took over the farm on his fathers death, and his two sons, Thomas Henry Hawkins and Robet Walter Hawkins, both in their 70s, continue the farming business.

In November, 1940, a stray German bomb knocked down the brew house chimney, and the copper was taken out in the 1950s. One of three oak fermenting vats is still stored on site. Malt and probably hops were supplied by Gray & Sons Ltd, Chelmsford, also malt from H.T. Eve and Company, Maldon, and hops from James Liddiard, Great Baddow.

From ESSEX BREWERS - The Malting and Hop Industries of the County by Ian P Peaty 1992 now out of print ISBN 978 1 873966 02 4